Mathematical Modelling of Chemical Diffusion through Skin using Grid-based PSEs

A Problem Solving Environment (PSE) with connections to remote distributed Grid processes is developed. The Grid simulation is itself a parallel process and allows steering of individual or multiple runs of the core computation of chemical diffusion through the stratum corneum, the outer layer of the skin. The effectiveness of this Grid-based approach in improving the quality of the simulation is assessed

Longitudinal study of local authority child and family social workers (wave 1) Findings from a 5 year study of local authority child and family social workers in England.

The longitudinal study investigates recruitment, retention and career progression in local authority child and family social work over 5 years. This is the first of 5 reports. It provides workforce information for employers and policy makers. Topics covered in this report include: •entry routes into local authority child and family social work •current employment and career history •workplace wellbeing •management, supervision and working environment •job satisfaction •career progression and future career plan

Directional emission of light from a nano-optical Yagi-Uda antenna

The plasmon resonance of metal nanoparticles can enhance and direct light from optical emitters in much the same way that radio frequency (RF) antennas enhance and direct the emission from electrical circuits. In the RF regime, a typical antenna design for high directivity is the Yagi-Uda antenna, which basically consists of a one-dimensional array of antenna elements driven by a single feed element. Here, we present the experimental demonstration of directional light emission from a nano-optical Yagi-Uda antenna composed of an array of appropriately tuned gold nanorods. Our results indicate that nano-optical antenna arrays are a simple but efficient tool for the spatial control of light emission.Comment: 4 pages, including 4 figure

High-transition-temperature superconductivity in the absence of the magnetic-resonance mode

The fundamental mechanism that gives rise to high-transition-temperature (high-Tc) superconductivity in the copper oxide materials has been debated since the discovery of the phenomenon. Recent work has focussed on a sharp 'kink' in the kinetic energy spectra of the electrons as a possible signature of the force that creates the superconducting state. The kink has been related to a magnetic resonance and also to phonons. Here we report that infrared spectra of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O(8+d), (Bi-2212) show that this sharp feature can be separated from a broad background and, interestingly, weakens with doping before disappearing completely at a critical doping level of 0.23 holes per copper atom. Superconductivity is still strong in terms of the transition temperature (Tc approx 55 K), so our results rule out both the magnetic resonance peak and phonons as the principal cause of high-Tc superconductivity. The broad background, on the other hand, is a universal property of the copper oxygen plane and a good candidate for the 'glue' that binds the electrons.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

An invisibility cloak using silver nanowires

In this paper, we use the parameter retrieval method together with an analytical effective medium approach to design a well-performed invisible cloak, which is based on an empirical revised version of the reduced cloak. The designed cloak can be implemented by silver nanowires with elliptical cross-sections embedded in a polymethyl methacrylate host. This cloak is numerically proved to be robust for both the inner hidden object as well as incoming detecting waves, and is much simpler thus easier to manufacture when compared with the earlier proposed one [Nat. Photon. 1, 224 (2007)].Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 2 table

Bibliometrics of systematic reviews : analysis of citation rates and journal impact factors

Background: Systematic reviews are important for informing clinical practice and health policy. The aim of this study was to examine the bibliometrics of systematic reviews and to determine the amount of variance in citations predicted by the journal impact factor (JIF) alone and combined with several other characteristics. Methods: We conducted a bibliometric analysis of 1,261 systematic reviews published in 2008 and the citations to them in the Scopus database from 2008 to June 2012. Potential predictors of the citation impact of the reviews were examined using descriptive, univariate and multiple regression analysis. Results: The mean number of citations per review over four years was 26.5 (SD +/-29.9) or 6.6 citations per review per year. The mean JIF of the journals in which the reviews were published was 4.3 (SD +/-4.2). We found that 17% of the reviews accounted for 50% of the total citations and 1.6% of the reviews were not cited. The number of authors was correlated with the number of citations (r = 0.215, P =5.16) received citations in the bottom quartile (eight or fewer), whereas 9% of reviews published in the lowest JIF quartile (<=2.06) received citations in the top quartile (34 or more). Six percent of reviews in journals with no JIF were also in the first quartile of citations. Conclusions: The JIF predicted over half of the variation in citations to the systematic reviews. However, the distribution of citations was markedly skewed. Some reviews in journals with low JIFs were well-cited and others in higher JIF journals received relatively few citations; hence the JIF did not accurately represent the number of citations to individual systematic reviews

"Practical Knowledge" and Perceptions of Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Among Drugsellers in Tanzanian Private Drugstores.

Studies indicate that antibiotics are sold against regulation and without prescription in private drugstores in rural Tanzania. The objective of the study was to explore and describe antibiotics sale and dispensing practices and link it to drugseller knowledge and perceptions of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance. Exit customers of private drugstores in eight districts were interviewed about the drugstore encounter and drugs bought. Drugsellers filled in a questionnaire with closed- and open-ended questions about antibiotics and resistance. Data were analyzed using mixed quantitative and qualitative methods. Of 350 interviewed exit customers, 24% had bought antibiotics. Thirty percent had seen a health worker before coming and almost all of these had a prescription. Antibiotics were dispensed mainly for cough, stomachache, genital complaints and diarrhea but not for malaria or headache. Dispensed drugs were assessed as relevant for the symptoms or disease presented in 83% of all cases and 51% for antibiotics specifically. Non-prescribed drugs were assessed as more relevant than the prescribed. The knowledge level of the drugseller was ranked as high or very high by 75% of the respondents. Seventy-five drugsellers from three districts participated. Seventy-nine percent stated that diseases caused by bacteria can be treated with antibiotics but 24% of these also said that antibiotics can be used for treating viral disease. Most (85%) said that STI can be treated with antibiotics while 1% said the same about headache, 4% general weakness and 3% 'all diseases'. Seventy-two percent had heard of antibiotic resistance. When describing what an antibiotic is, the respondents used six different kinds of keywords. Descriptions of what antibiotic resistance is and how it occurs were quite rational from a biomedical point of view with some exceptions. They gave rise to five categories and one theme: Perceiving antibiotic resistance based on practical experience. The drugsellers have considerable "practical knowledge" of antibiotics and a perception of antibiotic resistance based on practical experience. In the process of upgrading private drugstores and formalizing the sale of antibiotics from these outlets in resource-constrained settings, their "practical knowledge" as well as their perceptions must be taken into account in order to attain rational dispensing practices

Annual outpatient hysteroscopy and endometrial sampling (OHES) in HNPCC/Lynch syndrome (LS)

Background: LS women have a 40-60 % lifetime risk of endometrial cancer (EC). Most international guidelines recommend screening. However, data on efficacy are limited. Purpose: To assess the performance of OHES for EC screening in LS and compare it with transvaginal ultrasound (TVS) alone. Methods: A prospective observational cohort study of LS women attending a tertiary high-risk familial gynaecological cancer clinic was conducted. LS women opting for EC screening underwent annual OHES and TVS. Histopathological specimens were processed using a strict protocol. Data of women screened between October 2007 and March 2010 were analysed from a bespoke database. Histology was used as the gold standard. Diagnostic accuracy of OHES was compared with TVS using specificity, and positive (PLR) and negative (NLR) likelihood ratios. Results: Forty-one LS women underwent 69 screens (41 prevalent, 28 incident). Four (three prevalent, one incident) women were detected to have EC/atypical endometrial hyperplasia (AEH), five had endometrial polyps and two had endometrial hyperplasia (EH) on OHES. TVS detected two of four EC/AEH. OHES had similar specificity of 89.8 % (CI 79.2, 96.2 %), but higher PLR 9.8 (CI 4.6, 21) and lower NLR (zero) compared to TVS: specificity 84.75 %(CI 73, 92.8 %), PLR 3.28 (CI 1.04, 10.35) and NLR 0.59 (CI 0.22, 1.58). No interval cancers occurred over a median follow-up of 22 months. The annual incidence was 3.57 % (CI 0.09, 18.35) for EC, 10.71 % (CI 2.27, 28.23) for polyps and 21.4 % (CI 8.3, 40.1) for any endometrial pathology. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that in LS, annual OHES is acceptable and has high diagnostic accuracy for EC/AEH screening. Larger international studies are needed for confirmation, given the relatively small numbers of LS women at individual centres. It reinforces the current recommendation that endometrial sampling is crucial when screening these women. © 2012 Springer-Verlag

The fundamental pro-groupoid of an affine 2-scheme

A natural question in the theory of Tannakian categories is: What if you don't remember \Forget? Working over an arbitrary commutative ring $R$, we prove that an answer to this question is given by the functor represented by the \'etale fundamental groupoid \pi_1(\spec(R)), i.e.\ the separable absolute Galois group of $R$ when it is a field. This gives a new definition for \'etale \pi_1(\spec(R)) in terms of the category of $R$-modules rather than the category of \'etale covers. More generally, we introduce a new notion of "commutative 2-ring" that includes both Grothendieck topoi and symmetric monoidal categories of modules, and define a notion of $\pi_1$ for the corresponding "affine 2-schemes." These results help to simplify and clarify some of the peculiarities of the \'etale fundamental group. For example, \'etale fundamental groups are not "true" groups but only profinite groups, and one cannot hope to recover more: the "Tannakian" functor represented by the \'etale fundamental group of a scheme preserves finite products but not all products.Comment: 46 pages + bibliography. Diagrams drawn in Tik

Longitudinal study of child and family social workers (wave 3)

In 2018, the Department for Education (DfE) commissioned a consortium led by IFF Research, working with social work academics at Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Salford, to conduct a longitudinal study tracking the careers of local authority child and family social workers in England. This landmark study aimed to collect robust evidence on recruitment, retention and progression in child and family social work by tracking individuals over a five-year period. In Wave 3, new questions were added about the impacts of Covid-19 on child and family social workers’ workplace wellbeing, access to learning and development, flexible working, relationships with colleagues, and relationships with children, families and carer